pit in one's stomach

[Dan Goncharoff]

My question is whether the error was Friedman's or an editor's, and,
if Friedman's, why didn't an editor catch it.

DanG



On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 11:48 AM, Ben Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      pit in one's stomach
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thomas Friedman in today's Times:
>
> ---
> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/opinion/friedman-freedom-at-4-below.html
> To observe the democratic awakenings happening in places like Egypt,
> Syria and Russia is to travel with a glow in your heart and a pit in
> your stomach.
> [...]
> But that pit in the stomach comes from knowing that while the protests
> are propelled by deep aspirations for dignity, justice and
> self-determination, such heroic emotions have to compete with other
> less noble impulses and embedded interests in these societies.
> ---
>
> A commenter cites Paul Brians' _Common Errors in English Usage_
>
> ---
> http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/pit.html
> Just as you can love someone from the bottom of your heart, you can
> also experience a sensation of dread in the pit (bottom) of your
> stomach. I don’t know whether people who mangle this common expression
> into “pit in my stomach” envision an ulcer, an irritating peach pit
> they’ve swallowed or are thinking of the pyloric sphincter; but
> they’ve got it wrong.
> ---
>
> Jan Freeman wrote about it in a 2008 Globe column, noting the shift
> from "a feeling in the pit of your stomach" to  "a pit (you feel) in
> your stomach":
>
> http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/04/27/gut_check/
>
> I'm reminded a bit of the idiom blend "eat at your craw," combining
> "eat at you" and "stick in your craw":
>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind1104C&L=ADS-L&P=R10765
>
> Neither pits nor craws are easy to place these days.
>
> --bgz
>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
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